New Year

I have enjoyed taking the last couple of months off from blogging to recoup from moving to a new city and to explore a few different paths my writing could take in 2011. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and feel renewed in your own lives by the passing of time and the creation of new memories.

This month marks the 1st anniversary of themarginalized.com, and it has been a great year, full of surprises. I’ve learned a ton – about blogging, sure, but mostly about how my own life and the choices I make impact others for better or worse. My whole family has made changes in the way we eat, spend our time, and relate to each other. My offline writing has become enriched by the many people I’ve met and stories I’ve heard. Some posts have reached wide audiences and addressed major national issues. Others have been read by a few loyal followers, but hopefully have been meaningful for you.

So to commemorate a successful first year, and to give you a heads up, I’m including below the new content on my “About the Site” page. I am thrilled to be meshing this blog with my professional writing site, as I think they will complement each other beautifully and keep life simple.

Happy New Year,

Joanna

I started TheMarginalized.com in January, 2010, in order to report on and editorialize forced migration and the longing for home. Forced migration includes war refugees, slaves, victims of natural disasters, and wrongfully detained men, women, and children – people pushed into the literal margins of their societies by being forced from their own homes and homelands.

I hoped to raise awareness, promote opportunities to serve, and offer ways to empathize and grow in humility with marginalized people.

In the first year, I was excited to find that caring for other people is actually quite popular! I have enjoyed so immensely getting to know the many organizations working for the protection of refugees and fighting to end human trafficking and wrongful imprisonment domestically and worldwide.

I am excited now to continue this site for a second year, including the addition of my offline writing updates and some of the many things I see and learn while researching new pieces. That is why themarginalized.com and joannacastlemiller.com are joining up on this site and on Twitter!

I plan to continue posting resources and practical ways to stand for people in need, including marginalized people who we might not hear much about day-to-day. If you know of any people groups or individuals who could use one or many advocates, I hope you’ll let me know about them.

As was true in the first year of this project, my hope is that by creating dialogue and offering practical solutions, we might learn to remember, to advocate and to show compassion for victims of forced migration and other forms of oppression. And perhaps we will also grow in an understanding of our own need for rescue and home.